​May 15, 2012. Finished moving all of the miscellaneous stuff out of the house with the help of John Hitt and Bill Wallace. Do not know what we would have done without their help - they just jumped right in and cleared it out. Did not have have to do much cleaning, but I guess the management company will get a cleaning crew in and clean it the rest of the way and shampoo the carpets. Left Stone Mountain about 4:00 p.m. and drove to Ringgold, GA to Josh & Karen's house to drop off the generator, guns and ammunition so Josh can take it to Houston. From there we drove to Camping World in Chattanooga and Ships Campground right next door.

May 16, 2012. Had tires put on the trailer Wednesday morning; left there about 2:00 pm and made it to Franklin, Ky and spent the night at the Bluegrass Music RV Park. Unfortunately, we were not here during any concerts. Nice park; lots of grass. The dogs enjoyed themselves playing in the pond and running through a field.

May 17, 2012. Will probably drive to Bardstown, Ky this afternoon, which was supposed to be our destination for Thursday anyway. There we will tour the Heaven Hill Distilleries, which also has the Bardstown Society newsletter that Jim gets on a regular basis. There is a concert at the Music Man Soundstage Friday night, so we may stay for that. Jim says whatever I want - I am the "Program Director" - all he does is do the driving. Thursday took us to Franklin, Ky to the Bluegrass RV Park. Very nice park –level and grassy. Not many people there but did manage to meet a nice couple from the Houston area (Gloria & Will) who were traveling north to see their grandson in a tournament of some sort, cannot remember what. Gave them a card and maybe will hear from them in the future. Did not leave Franklin until around lunch time and then went to Camping World in Bowling Green to look for a part for the shower (which we probably did not need because I think our problem was from too much water pressure). Also had to stop at Tractor Supply for dog food and Home Depot for a tarp and eye hooks to secure the printer. Stopped at McDonald’s for a quick lunch and then got back on I-65 to head to Bardstown, Ky to the White Acres Campground.

May 18, 2012. Made it to Bardstown, Ky. Bluegrass was a nice park but cannot get WiFi at our campsite so am checking email on the i-Phone. Today we are going into Bardstown to do some site seeing and will head out tomorrow early to our next stop. Enjoyed our stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which you can visit here with us.

May 19, 2012 (Saturday). White Acres RV Park in Bardstown, KY. OK park but under construction and I happened to pick a site far away from the main building with dirt and very uneven. Should have picked one on the main part which was more level. Found a nice place for the dogs to run so they could get their exercise. Think I should have looked into the State Park instead.

Met a couple at the Laundromat who were staying at the State Park; said it was very nice. Had coffee and pastries at a local bakery while the laundry was being done. From there we headed to the Heaven Hill plant for a tour. Part of the Bourbon Trial and you get a passport to get stamped at each location you visit. Very interesting the way they store the bourbon in the white oak barrels. Should have gone to the Jim Beam plant which was not very far away. Sitting at the Welcome Center met some people doing a geocache which Jim found without even looking for it. Micro so we put our names in and now I need the internet to log it. Still need to find one to put our trackable in. WiFi does not seem to work very well with the Weebly web site and have not been able to update our travels on it. Going through LaFayette, IND drove through a wind farm - must have been thousands of windmills running for miles on both sides of the interstate.

May 20, 2012 (Sunday). Drove through Chicago today - what a nightmare - at least it was a Sunday and there was not much traffic. I would not have wanted Jim to drive through this city on a weekday. The tolls were outrageous. Must have spent about $25 on the tolls. Speed limit was 55 - much too slow as our Excursion travels best at 65 and gets better gas mileage at that speed. Very glad to be out of Illinois. Staying a couple of days in Wisconsin Dells at Arrowhead RV Resort. Huge resort - part of Thousand Trails. The weather has been so nice since we left - no rain; sunny skies; nice sleeping weather. But I think a cold front has come through here - going to get down into the high 40's - windows are now closed and warm clothes will be put on for tomorrow. Will look for a geocache to do tomorrow; clean the trailer; maybe even a winery to visit.

May 21, 2012 (Monday). Nice relaxing morning. Nice not to have to get up and get on the road. Worked on stuff on the internet; downloaded an album on iTunes that Karen Katula sent me. Cleaned up the trailer somewhat - sweeping, dusting, cleaning. Found a nice trail to take the dogs for a long walk where they can run and get some exercise. In the afternoon we went to the Riverwalk and found two geocaches - dropped off a trackable that we had been holding for quite some time that we took from Shea (she took it from a serviceman when she was in Europe last year). Had lunch and then went to a winery for a tasting and bought a couple bottles of wine. Also bought some chocolates that the girl makes with the wine they make.

June 1, 2012. Finally able to make an entry - WiFi here at St. Croix has been absolutely horrible- going in and out constantly and taking hours just to make an entry. Finally broke down and bought a MiFi from Verizon so we have our own hotspot here in the trailer. There were other campgrounds we could not even connect to their wifi, and some did not even have it. Finished our first week of work over Memorial Day Weekend which really broke us in - campground was booked with over 150 campers here. Rained a lot but people enjoyed themselves anyway. This is a big place for 4-wheeling and a lot of campers bring their bikes. Lots of kids and very family oriented. Good weekend and learning the reservation system and cash register.

There is another workamper couple that came in one month before we did - Terry & Evelyn. Evelyn and I work in the office together sometime and Terry works outside mowing lawns, etc. Jim's job has been helping guests with firewood and security. Monday Evelyn and I cleaned the bathrooms, which we will be doing every Monday. Takes us about two hours to do one bathroom - women's bathroom is a bigger mess than the men's. Monday I cleaned the game room and the other two bathrooms attached to the office then helped Jim clean out fire pits. This was pretty hard since it has been raining and there was a lot of wet ashes to clean out.

Grocery shopping is a trip to Walmart which is 72 miles round trip. We have done two trips so far but I think we will have to budget a little better and go there once a month with small trips to the local grocery store. Takes over $20 to drive to Walmart.

Mosquitos and ticks are really bad. Have to spray ourselves and the dogs every day just to be able to sit outside. Tried doing a few geocaches today - got two done - but the ticks and bugs were so bad we quit. On one we were stopped by a flooded road and could not go farther. It has been raining here since we got here and we finally have some nice weather. But by the time we got back to the car Hayley had about 10 ticks on her and Jim & I had quite a few as well. Seems hiking is not going to be one of the things we do this summer, especially if we have to deal with this many ticks and mosquitos.

Had three days off - Wed, Thurs & Friday. Wednesday we did not do anything - built a fire and sat there in the afternoon and read and enjoyed a bottle of wine. Thursday was our trip to Walmart after stopping in Hinckely and going to a couple of thrift stores and getting Jim a nice Browning jacket for $5. Thursday cleaned the trailer and Jim did some work on the outside.

Guests started coming in for the weekend and both of us are back to work on Saturday. I will probably be in the office and Jim has to blow up 300 inner tubes - getting ready for the summer tubing down the St. Croix River.

June 3, 2012 (Sunday). Up early to be at work by 9:00 am. Does not sound early but the dogs need to be walked and fed; lunch needs to be made; breakfast needs to be eaten; then washing up and getting ready. Nice that we do not have to get up by an alarm anymore - just wake up naturally around 6:30 - 7:00. Researching places to visit and geocaches to do – heard there is a lake called Lake 26 north of Danbury which we will have to visit; also one south of Danbury called Round Lake off of Round Lake Road which has a nice beach where we can let the dogs run around. Also thinking about driving the scenic highway from Duluth to Grand Portage on the northeastern tip of Minnesota. Looking for hotels or cabins in Duluth or Grand Marais to spend the night that allows dogs. Also going to look for the wine trails to visit and sample the local wines.

Today was very slow in the office - Sunday most people check out and not many kids come in to play in the game room or buy stuff. Evelyn had to work from 2-8, but probably won't have much to do.

I think this lifestyle is an adjustment for the dogs as well. They don't just get to go out in the yard and chase chipmunks or squirrels like back home. Hayley stays in the yard pretty well but Lucy likes to wander and needs to be tied up. We are working with her to get her to learn what her yard is.

Thought I should start reading again - working and being gone 11 hours a day did not give me much time for reading. Just finished A Thousand Country Roads, which is an epilogue to The Bridges of Madison County. Evelyn said she went to the Danbury library and bought a bag of books for $3.00. Jim has not stopped reading. His favorite author is Clive Cusler and we just found another one of his books at a thrift store in Hinckley earlier this week. Thinks I might enjoy reading it as it is about a young couple and their adventures.

Also learning that we got rid of more clothes than we should have, like Jim's belts and suspenders. Also need more towels for the dogs - gave mine away to Jackyn and now I need them back.

Raining a bit this afternoon and the temperature is down to 70 - no campfire tonight. Not much TV either - we only get 3 stations since we do not have cable - not going to pay for this.

June 4, 2012 (Wednesday). Day off. Today is laundry and grocery shopping day. Decided not to drive the 36 miles one way to Walmart in Pine City ($20 in gas) and went into Danbury instead. Had lunch at a wonderful little bar called The Fish Bowl - pretty empty but good food. Had a great burger and Jim had a Reuben. Filled me up so much that I don't even want to make dinner! Then went to Wayne's Foods Plus in Danbury (5 miles east). By this time it had started raining even tho the weather said only a 10% chance of rain, so we headed hom because the vents were open and I left the dog's bed out in the weather. Took the dogs for their evening walk and had to keep walking to keep from getting eaten alive by the mosquitos. They love it here, especially during the week when there are no guests. I can let them off their leashes and they love to run in the woods hunting chimpunks. Lucy caught one the other morning and played with it outside until she ripped it in half. Could not find the top part of it but I was able to get the bottom half and throw it away. There is a little patch of vegetation next to our trailer where the chipmunks live and they love going in there after the little critters.

TV is so scarce that we only get 3 channels so we have to keep ourselves occupied with other things. He also plays a lot of Spider Solitaire and reads. Found another Clive Cusler novel at a thrift store in Hinckley but had to pay $4 for it - pretty expensive for a thrift store. He also had some in hard back and is asking $13 for one book - too high for my pocketbook.

June 23, 2012. Work this month has been Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday. I am hoping now that the third workampers have come on board and I won't have to clean the bathrooms every Monday and we will all get our turn. The major thing I don't like is working until 10:00 pm and then having to be at work at 9:00 the next morning. Does not happen every often, but I don't enjoy working until 10. Jim works during the day, usually 9-3 chopping fire wood, cleaning fire pits, picking trash and other things that need to get done. The owner Jerry is not very authoritative and does not give the men a work schedule of when they need to be at work or what needs to be done - they just have to figure it out for themselves. Sue, the manager, makes a work schedule for the women since we work in the office and share in that work.

It has been raining so much lately that we have not done any sightseeing, but on Thursday it was actually nice enough that we went to Forts Folle Avione Historical Park. Indian women tell the story of the Fort and the fur trade in the early 1800's. Bought some authentic wild rice which is still harvested the hard way walking in the water and pulling the rice up to harvest. A small package was $12.

Will eventually visit Crex Education Center and some wineries. Going through the various magazines on the area attractions takes time but I will eventually get through it. Would like to take the scenic drive from Duluth to Grand Portage which will take 2-3 days to get in all the sights. Will wait until there is no more rain - rain has put a damper on our sightseeing and now Duluth is flooded because of all the rain - there is still flood warnings as the river is not going down very fast.

There has been no tubing here because of the rain which has raised the river too much and poses a liability for the owner. Many of the campers are disappointed because of the no tubing because that is what they come here for. But others bring their ATV's and are out riding every day.